Should homework be banned? Persuasive speech outline

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The Organ Shortage Demands Change

Insert your information

General Purpose: To persuade

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech I hope that The Organ Transplant Act of 1984

be changed so that compensation in some form be allowed to donors

which would increase donations and reduce the number of people still

waiting for organs.

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Central Idea: The Organ Transplant Act of 1984 is a U.S. federal legislation that

prohibits the sale or any type of payment to the donors of organs. This Act

applies to every situation no matter the case. I believe that the Act should be

changed to allow donors to be compensated in some way that is regulated by

the Government which would likely reduce the number of people still waiting

for someone to donate. There is a shortage of donors and the current system

is failing to provide the necessary things needed to the people waiting for

organs and to the donors themselves.

I. Introduction

a. A quote from the United Network for Organ Sharing says “without the

organ donor, there is no story, no hope, no transplant. But when there is

an organ donor, life springs from death, sorrow turns to hope, and a

terrible loss becomes a gift.”

b. Give the audience a reason to listen: Some of you may have experienced

or known someone who has needed an organ transplant, and if not, I

know that you can still recognize that it is something that people deal

with in their daily lives.

c. Establish your credibility: As someone who is aspiring to be in the

medical field one day and has also seen a person pretty close to me go

through the experience and process, I feel that this is a topic worth

thinking about and seeing if change to the current legislation would be

better for society.

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d. Reveal the law: The legislation is called the Organ Transplant Act of 1984

and it prohibits the sale or compensation of organs from donors.

e. Preview the speech: So today, I will explain more about the Organ

Transplant Act, I will propose the changes that should be implemented

within the Act and the benefits that it can bring to society, I will explain

some of the opposing viewpoints which prevent the Act from being

changed, and finally, I will be giving the audience a certain plan that they

can do to help change this Legislation.

II. Body

a. According to Barbara Mantel’s article (2011, April 15) “Organ Donations”

written for CQ Researcher, more than 110,000 Americans are on the

waitlist for organ-transplants. She states that kidneys account for about

60 percent of those on the waitlist but can take up to 5 years until they

find one.

i. Not only that but since 2000 the waiting list has doubled and will

only continue to do so unless things change.

b. Some organs are given based off of a score patients receive depending on

their chance of survival but for kidneys it’s determined by how long you

wait.

i. This system does not help diminish the shortage that is occurring

c. In 2012, Alex Tabarrok wrote in his article “Around the World, Innovative

Programs Boost Organ Donations” that Iran is the only country that has

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eliminated the shortage of transplant organs, but they do have a legal

system of paying for donations.

i. They began in 1988 and stopped the shortage by 1999

d. In another article called the “Great Debate: Should Organ Donors Be

Paid?” (2009, August 10) written by Rachael Rettner, it says that keeping

a patient on dialysis is expensive and can cost around $65000 to $75000

per year and it would benefit the government to just pay for the

transplant and incentive for the donors.

e. According to the article “Step One in Solving the Organ Shortage: Become

an Organ Donor”, 95 percent of people support the concept of organ

donation but only 54 percent sign up to donate when they die

Transition: These statistics and facts show that many people in the united states are in

need of a transplant, but the shortage stops that from happening while the number continues

to grow. This shortage and the unnecessary death of people can be prevented but, in order to

do this, the legislation must be changed.

f. Thus, I propose that there should be some form of compensation for

those who are willing to donate so that they can also benefit from this

procedure and potentially increase the amount of people willing to give.

g. If the Organ Transplant Act can be changed, the amount of people that

could be helped would increase and there would be no shortage because

of an increase in donors.

i. According to Amy L Friedman (2006), an associate professor of

surgery, wrote in her article “Payment for living organ donation

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should be legalized” that donors not only have to pay for

transportation to the site of surgery, but they get no compensation

for lost wages at work either. She believes that these reasons

might be stopping many from donating.

1. Compensating would allow everyone from the donor to the

patient to receive something and be treated equally.

ii. In Alex Tabarrok’s article (2012), Nobel Laureate economist Gary

Becker and Julio Elias estimated that if only 15000 were given to

donors, there would be no shortage of kidneys in the U.S but the

Federal Gov would have to pay so there would be no inequality.

iii. The National Kidney Foundation (2017) also agreed that

compensation should be given to donors to make it cost neutral

and pay for things like travel expense, wages, medical care, and

follow up care for donors.

1. Giving to the families of those who donate in some form

could also work.

iv. The US could even save up to $46 billion a year according to

Robert Gebelhoff in his article, “Compensation for organ donors: A

primer” written in 2015.

1. All of these reasons would likely increase the amount of

donations and reduce the shortage of organs.

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Transition: A change in the federal legislation that includes the modifications I have

proposed, can save the lives of those who are still waiting for a donor and a transplant.

However, there are still some people who oppose this change of legislation.

h. Some of the opposing views to changing the legislation includes the belief

that doing this would in turn exploit the poor.

i. But there are many ways to prevent this from happening

ii. In the article written by Dr. Joseph Fins (2009, February 9) called

“Should Organ Donors Be Compensated?”, another Dr. Sally Satel,

an organ donor herself, states within that same article that to

protect the poor and desperate there should be compensation that

would not appeal to these groups, specifically, no cash for kidneys.

1. However, instead they could compensate in the form of a

401k contribution, or even a Medicare voucher which

would stop them from making any hasty decisions.

2. Or they could prevent the poor from contributing at all

unless they were completely healthy and checked by

doctors first.

3. Also, everything would need to be regulated and

compensated by the Gov. to keep everything equal from

paying to who ends up receiving the donation.

iii. Another opposition is that altruistic or religious giving would stop.

1. According to the article “Financial Incentives for Organ

Donation” written for the US department of Health and

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Human Services, altruistic giving has been going on for

about 30 years, but it might be time for a new approach,

and it would be ethical because of concern for patients and

saving lives.

a. The current altruistic system of donations is just not

providing enough.

2. Barbara Mantel’s article for CQ Researcher, says that a

study found that poor people were more willing to donate

with no payment than people who were wealthier.

Introducing payments to that did nothing to change the

outcome.

a. It also concluded that altruistic donation would not

be affected either.

III. Signpost: As you can see, there are many views regarding this topic and legislation. Those

who oppose it, oppose it due to their fear of problems and implications that could arise;

however, we must also think about those that are suffering and have waited for such a long

time and think about more ways to help them.

IV. Plan of action:

a. In order to reduce the amount of people still on the waitlist for those

organs, I believe that a change to the legislation could be a possible way

to make it work.

b. All of us can aid in this by doing different things.

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c. The National Kidney Foundation (2017) states that a way to help is to

educate families, friends, and patients on how to find donors when they are

struggling to do so.

i. Not only that but learning more about the issue in general

ii. They also state that peer mentoring from a donor to potential

donors could be beneficial

d. Another step is to educate yourself and consider, even if only a little bit,

to become a donor yourself.

i. When you renew your license, you can also put that you would be

an organ donor if anything happens as well.

ii. Whether we are compensated or not the act itself is still something

that takes a lot of courage from all who donate.

e. These are just some things we can think about and do in our own lives to

help the issue at hand. But we still need to try to get the legislation

changed to see more of an impact.

V. Conclusion

a. To reiterate, I propose that the Organ Transplant Act be changed and

should include compensation for anyone that is willing to donate any

organ at any point in their lives whether it be money or even just paying

for their expenses which would raise donation rate and reduce the

shortage over time.

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i. Research shows that not only could this raise donation rate and

finally stop the shortage, but it saves the US a lot of money as well

and everyone would benefit.

ii. Although there are those who oppose the Act from changing, there

are many ways that the US Government could regulate the

compensations in a way that is safe and would benefit all.

iii. Finally, I discussed a plan of action that I hope can be

accomplished and something we can all do to bring awareness to

the issue.

b. If we do this many more people who die unnecessarily and suffer from

this could live, and finally be free from hoping that one day, they will be

able to receive what they desperately needed. All we need to do is to take

the first step and see where it can take us.

References

Financial Incentives for Organ Donation (n.d.). U.S Department of Health & Human Services.

Retrieved from https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/resources/ethics/financial-

incentives-for-organ-donation/

Fins, Dr. J. (2009, February 9). Should Organ Donors Be Compensated? Weill Cornell

Medicine. Retrieved from https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2009/02/should-

organ-donors-be-compensated

Friedman, A. L. (2006). Payment for living organ donation should be legalised. BMJ (Clinical

research ed.), 333(7571), 746–748. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38961.475718.68

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Gebelhoff, R. (2015, December 28). Compensation for organ donors: A primer. Retrieved

from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-

theory/wp/2015/12/28/compensation-for-organ-donors-a-primer/

Mantel, B. (2011, April 15). Organ donations. CQ Researcher, 21,337-360. Retrieved from

http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.barry.edu/cqresearcher/cqresrre2011041500

National Kidney Foundation Position on Increasing Organ Donation and Transplantation.

(2017, May 25). Retrieved from https://www.kidney.org/news/national-kidney-

foundation-position-increasing-organ-donation-and-transplantation

Rettner, R. (2009, August 10). Great Debate: Should Organ Donors Be Paid? Retrieved from

https://www.livescience.com/5606-great-debate-organ-donors-paid.html

Step One in Solving the Organ Shortage: Become an Organ Donor. (2018, August 17).

Retrieved June 22, 2020, from https://biolife4d.com/step-one-solving-organ-

shortage/

Tabarrok, A. (2012). Around the World, Innovative Programs Boost Organ Donations. In D.

A. Henningfeld (Ed.), At Issue. Organ Transplants. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press.

(Reprinted from The Meat Market, Wall Street Journal, 2010, January 8) Retrieved

from https://link-gale-

com.ezproxy.barry.edu/apps/doc/EJ3010483233/OVIC?u=miam50083&sid=OVIC&

xid=18576079

What is UNOS?: About United Network for Organ Sharing. (2019, December 23). Retrieved

June 22, 2020, from https://unos.org/about/